ISAIAH 50 IMPRESSED BY THE LIFE OF JESUS2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Isaiah 50 Impressed By The Life Of Jesus

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019. Here as we look at Isaiah chapter 50 this morning, I've titled the message, Impressed by the Life of Jesus. Impressed by the Life of Jesus. And I guess I would begin by just asking the question, are you impressed by the life of Jesus?

Is that something that stands out to you as remarkable? Is that something that causes you to stand in awe the life of Jesus? Are you impressed? You might not be. You know, there are many who are not impressed by the life of Jesus and for a variety of different reasons, but they

What I would challenge us to consider this morning is even as believers in Jesus, even as those who, you know, seek to know the Lord and walk with the Lord, sometimes we can get some misunderstandings in our minds to, well, kind of not really appreciate the life and the ministry of Jesus.

We kind of begin to think to ourselves sometimes, you know, well, Jesus did this or he did that, that miracle or this took place, but, you know, Jesus was God. So that was easy because Jesus is God. Of course, Jesus behaved that way. Of course, Jesus handled that situation well or properly, right? Of course, Jesus was able to give that answer. Of course, Jesus was able to do this or endure that. Of course, he did that because, well, Jesus is God, right?

And Jesus is, in fact, God. He has always existed with the Father in all of eternity. He is the creator of the heavens and the earth. He is one with the Father. There's that triune nature of God that is a great mystery for us. But at the same time, we need to be mindful of to not neglect the humanity of Jesus.

The deity of Jesus is a reality. He is God. And yet at the same time, we can, in our minds, kind of overemphasize his deity to the point that we forget about his humanity. And when we forget about his humanity, then we kind of walk away with the impression, of course he could do that. That's easy for Jesus because he's God. But this morning, I would kind of challenge you to reset some of those preconceived ideas and those attitudes in your mind and

And consider the reality of the humanity of Jesus. It's called the incarnation. When God, the God of all creation, the God of all eternity, entered into time and space. And Jesus, he became a man. He didn't stop being God, but he added humanity to his nature. And he experienced real life as a real human being.

The author of Hebrews puts it this way in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15. He says, Here the author of Hebrews is saying we have a high priest who knows what it's like to be in our shoes. We have a high priest who knows what it's like to feel what we feel.

and to struggle with what we struggle with, and to have hurt and heartache and battles and difficulties and issues and triumphs and successes and victories as well as difficulties. And we have a high priest who was tempted, or you could also read that as tested as we are in all points. So every test that you ever face, every challenge that you ever face, Jesus was tested in all those points as well.

Now he is different in that he did so without sin, but at the same time, that doesn't diminish the fact that he experienced so that he can relate to you and I in the things that we face. Are you impressed by the life of Jesus? I would suggest to you that if the life of Jesus is not impressive, then there is nothing impressive about his death either. If the life of Jesus is not impressive, then

If the life and the ministry of Jesus, if what he did and how he lived, if it doesn't mean anything, then his death doesn't mean anything. Because the whole idea is, the whole understanding is that Jesus became, man, it was not just for the cross, although that was the climax and the completion so that he could say it is finished, right? But at the same time, he lived for 33 years as one of us in a way that is an example for us. And if Jesus lived,

did everything in the power and strength of God, you know, using all of that, then he's not much of an example for us. But Jesus instead, he limited himself and became a human being to live a life that is an example for us. And so we're going to consider that a little bit here through the prophet Isaiah this morning. And I pray that you and I would all, we would all be impressed by

by the life of Jesus, to really appreciate some of those things that Jesus did and the life that he lived on our behalf. Well, the first thing we'll consider is found in verses one through three here. Point number one is impressed by the patience of Jesus.

Here in verses 1 through 3, we're kind of jumping into the heavenly scene, kind of before we enter into the life and ministry of Jesus. Here we see kind of the Lord evaluating the situation with his people, the nation of Israel. Once again, verse 1 says,

And for your transgressions, your mother has been put away. Here is the Lord is talking about this idea of divorce. He's addressing some thoughts and some discussions and conversations that are happening within the people of Israel. Just to kind of back up a little bit and give some context to what's happening in the nation of Israel at this time, the prophet Isaiah says,

was speaking on behalf of the Lord during a time where the nation of Israel had been split in two. They had divided the kingdom. There was the northern kingdom, Israel, and the southern kingdom, Judah. Now, after they split, really kind of from the beginning of the split, both nations, both sides, were in a state of rebellion against God.

And there was some pockets of revival and that, but overall, the people were rebelling against God and refusing to walk with God. And so what God did then was he raised up prophets and the whole mission of the prophets was to call people back to right relationship with God, to call them to repentance, to turn from their sin and to get right with God so that they would not experience the judgment and consequences that come from their rebellion against God, their sinfulness.

But during the ministry of the prophet Isaiah, you can kind of see it's been a couple hundred years since the kingdoms were split. Under King David, they had, you know, the pinnacle really of their spirituality as a nation. They had, you know, turned to God and worshiped the Lord. But after David, under the reign of Solomon, those spiritual tendencies began to decline and they drifted away from God.

So that by the time Isaiah comes on the scene, the people of Israel have been in rebellion against God for a couple hundred years. And God's been sending prophets and calling them back.

And Isaiah is one of those prophets. He's kind of in the middle though. Now you'll see Judah continues on for a little bit longer, but the nation of Israel is conquered by the nation of Assyria. And it's a result of their sinfulness against God. And it happens during the ministry of Isaiah. After, as we continue reading through the Bible in three years, we're going to hit the book of Jeremiah next. And

And Jeremiah, his ministry happens during the end of the nation of Judah. Their final chance to turn back and get right with God was through the ministry of the prophet Jeremiah. And so they've been experiencing rebellion for 200 years. They're going to continue to rebel for another 150 years after Isaiah. Meanwhile, they're continuing to experience the judgment of God.

The nation of Assyria that was the world's superpower of the day was conquering Judah little by little.

They were, you know, reducing their territory, taking one city here and one city there. They were causing difficulties and taking people away captive. And the northern kingdom would be taken away captive completely. And so the people are being dispersed. The nation is being whittled down little by little. And Babylon is going to be rising up and coming soon. And so the people of Israel at this time are looking around at the difficulties they're facing, the affliction that they're going through.

And they're declaring, God must have divorced us. He must have abandoned us. He's left us and put us away. They're beginning to ask and wonder, why has God abandoned us? And here the prophet Isaiah in chapter 50 here says, actually, the Lord hasn't divorced you.

Now, verse one is a little bit of an interesting verse because you can look at it from a couple different perspectives. And so if you want to kind of dive into that, you're welcome to do that. But here's the way that I see and understand what the Lord is saying here is that divorce requires a paper trail. The Lord had established that in Deuteronomy chapter 24.

Under certain conditions, under the law, there was the permission for divorce. And so in that case, well, here's what you need to do. The husband needs to put in the hands of the wife a certificate of divorce so that it was official. There's kind of this seal, this paperwork that, well, affirms now it's official. This relationship has been dissolved. And what the Lord is saying here is that he's challenging them. Okay, you're saying that I've divorced you. Where's your paperwork? Okay.

You're saying that I've abandoned you. You're saying I've put you away. Where's the paperwork? Now, God had made a covenant with his people back at Mount Sinai, and he gave them, well, the tablets. There was that seal, right? That beginning, you know, that marriage license, you might say. And the people agreed, we will obey the Lord. And they entered into this covenant relationship there at Mount Sinai. And so God is saying, look, if I had divorced you,

Well, there would be something similar, some kind of similar seal that would finish that. I haven't put you away. I haven't divorced you is the point of what he's saying. Instead, he goes on in verse one to say, for your iniquities, you have sold yourselves. Sometimes as Christians, we say this way. If you feel distant from God, guess who moved? It's not God. And this is what the Lord is saying here. I haven't moved. I haven't put you away. I haven't abandoned you.

You, by your own iniquities, you've sold yourselves into this slavery. You've sold yourselves into this difficulty. He says, for your transgressions, your mother has been put away. You have on your own, you have brought these things on your own in your condition, your state of rebellion against me. Now he goes on to explain it a little bit further. He says in verse two, why when I came, was there no man? Why when I called, was there none?

to answer. The Lord says, look, I haven't abandoned you. I came. I keep reaching out. I keep calling out. Why is there nobody answering? Why are you not calling and responding when I'm calling to you? Why are you not returning? Again, Isaiah was one of those prophets. There was prophets before him and there would be prophets after him. The Lord continued to reach out to a people who

that persistently refused to listen and insisted on rebelling against God. And yet the Lord would continue to reach out. And he would continue even to the point of sending Jesus, the Messiah, to bring the opportunity of full salvation and redemption to his people and through his people. Pastor John Corson puts it this way, God had neither divorced nor given up on his people,

it was they who had left him to chase after other gods. Yet he would still reach out to them and send Messiah to them. Are you impressed by the patience of the Lord, by the patience of Jesus, that he would put up with people who had for several hundred years been fighting against him and rebelling against him and would continue that to the point of complete destruction and then still come and die upon the cross and

for us. That he would still come and pay with his own life for our sin. Paul tells us that the love of God was demonstrated once and for all by the fact that while we were still enemies against God, Christ died for us. This is what Jesus entered into when he came into this world. He came in

To be amongst the people that were fighting against him, resistant to him, and not appreciative at all to who he was or what he was going to accomplish for them. The apostle John puts it this way in writing the gospel of John chapter 1 verse 10 and 11. He says, he was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. Jesus was here in the world.

Being God, being the creator of the heavens and the earth, he became man, and here he is, the creator, now in the midst of his creation, but the world paid him no attention. He came to his own, and they did not receive him. Are you impressed? You could look at that and just say, well, you know, no big deal. Jesus, he's God. He can handle that. Not a problem. But at the same time, I would encourage you to kind of think through what would that be like

What kind of emotions would be experienced? What kind of things would go through your mind? What kind of things would you have to face having that kind of rejection to that degree from those that you had created and loved so dearly? Here in Isaiah chapter 50 verse 2, God continues on to say, "'Is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Indeed, with my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness.'"

Their fish stink because there is no water and die of thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness and I make sackcloth their covering. The Lord continues on here in Isaiah chapter 50 to say, look, it's not that I've abandoned you. It's not that I've put you away. It's your own sin that has brought this upon you. You've pursued these things and gone astray. It's not that my arms are too short that I can't redeem. We like to tease some people sometimes.

I won't mention their names, but their initials are Patty Sedota, for her short arms. And there's things that, like, she can't reach because her arms are too short. You should see her when she's, like, doing some crafts. A lot of times she's using her feet. She's like this, and she's like, just to, you know, make that cut. She's got to reach, work hard to reach.

I was picturing in my mind, you remember that old movie Hook, right? With Robin Williams as Peter Pan, but he didn't know he was Peter Pan yet and his kids are there and he's like, if he could just touch their hands, they can all go home and he's trying, he's reaching, he's reaching, he's doing his best and he's too afraid of heights, it's too far, he can't do it. The Lord says, is my hand shortened that it cannot redeem? Is that the issue? That's why you're in this situation, that's why you're in this mess because I really want to help but I just, my arms aren't long enough. That's not the issue. He goes on to say, look, I'm the creator. I'm the creator.

I can rebuke the sea and it just dries up. That whole Mediterranean, just empty it out like a toilet, just flush all that water out. It's dry ground. And I can take a wilderness, a desert, and turn it into rivers. I clothe the heavens with darkness. Where do you think the infinity that you see out in space, where do you think that gets its color? God says, I do that. I cover that with darkness. I'm the creator, the Lord says.

The issue is not any kind of failure on my part. The issue is your sin. And yet, here I am amongst you because I haven't given up on you. I'm not done with you. The patience of Jesus, the love and the mercy and the grace of Jesus. I'm just replaying this whole scene in my head of what I was impersonating Patty. I'm just, I'm sorry, Patty. I apologize. That's like, that was kind of brutal. So be impressed with Jesus and not with Jerry, okay?

Impressed by the patience of Jesus. Well, continuing on in verse 4, now we get point number 2, and that is impressed by the words of Jesus. Not only can we look at this passage and understand a little bit about what Jesus was going through and be impressed by his patience and perseverance in reaching out to people who are resisting him, but also

But as we look at the words of Jesus, now at this time, we're moving kind of directly into the life and ministry of Jesus. So now he's on earth. He's, well, he's doing what normal people do. He's talking, using words to express thoughts and his words, well, they're impressive. Check out verse four. The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary.

Now here as we look at the subject of Jesus. Now Jesus here is the servant that's being referred to throughout this passage. And yet at the same time he's referring to, Isaiah is speaking like on behalf of Jesus in first person, right?

And then he refers to the Lord God. And so it's this relationship, this connection between Jesus and the Father. And so Jesus says, the Father has given me the tongue of the learned. Jesus declares that in his life and in his ministry, he spoke on behalf of the Father and that the Father gave him the tongue of the learned. As you read through the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are you impressed that

with the words of Jesus? Do they stand out as remarkable and noteworthy to you? You know, the people of Jesus's day, they were impressed with the words of Jesus. In fact, as you work your way through the gospels, you'll find words like astonished. As Jesus is speaking and talking, the people's reaction, they're astonished. Another word that is used in regards to the reaction of the people to Jesus's words is amazed.

They're astonished, they're amazed, and then another word is used also in the people's response to Jesus and his words, and that is that the people marveled at the words of Jesus. They're astonished, they're amazed, and they marvel. I want to share just a couple quick examples from the Gospel of Luke to kind of highlight this and illustrate this a bit. It begins in Luke chapter 2, verse 47. It says,

At this time, Jesus is 12 years old. He's with his family in Jerusalem for a feast. And then his family leaves along with everybody else. They think Jesus is with them, but he actually stays behind in Jerusalem. And so the parents come rushing back a couple days later. They're searching frantically. They finally find Jesus in the temple. And as he's there in the temple, he's interacting with the scholars, the rabbis, the religious leaders of the day.

They're interacting. They're having conversation. He's asking questions. He's giving answers. And it tells us in Luke 2, verse 47, all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. Everybody who heard Jesus, even when he was 12 years old, we have any 12-year-olds in here? Probably not a lot of people astonished at your understanding and answers, right? That's not something we're noted for, known for at 12 years old. But when it came to Jesus...

All the people were astonished. They were blown away at how much Jesus understood and the words that he spoke. Well, continuing on a little bit later in Jesus's life in Luke chapter 4 verse 22, as he begins his actual ministry, he's been baptized in the wilderness. He comes back and now he's in his hometown. In Luke chapter 4 verse 22, it says, all bore witness to him and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, is this not Joseph's son?

Here's the people confused, perplexed. Wait, like we know this kid. This is Joseph's son. We know this kid. I remember him being around. Yeah. How did he get such gracious words? Where did he get these words from? They marveled at the words that Jesus spoke. They're blown away. They can't understand because his words are so gracious and remarkable. Similar thought in Luke chapter four, verse 32. It says that they were astonished at his teaching and

For his word was with authority. As Jesus is beginning his teaching ministry, the people are astonished. They're surprised. It stands out. This is different. He teaches with authority.

The parallel passages say, not like the scribes and the Pharisees, right? They taught the scriptures, but they didn't teach with authority. But Jesus taught differently. Like he knows what he's talking about. He has experience. He has some direct personal connection with this somehow. And it caused the people to be astonished at the things that he taught.

Well, jumping towards the end of the ministry of Jesus in Luke chapter 20, talking about the religious leaders and their attacks against Jesus, it says that they could not catch him in his words in the presence of the people.

And they marveled at his answer and kept silent. Over and over, the religious leaders tried to trap Jesus in his words. And so they asked trick questions. They set up, you know, crazy scenarios. And they tried to get him to stumble, to mess up in the things that he said in his words. And on this occasion, they tried. And Jesus, well, he was remarkable in the words that he shared. And they marveled.

And they said, we better be quiet. We're just getting ourselves in trouble now. They realized the words of Jesus are impressive. So how did Jesus get these words? And kind of simply, you could say, well, that's easy. Jesus is God. Of course he had the right words to say. It's not really that impressive that Jesus had good words and gracious words and taught with authority. Of course he did. He's God, right? We can easily jump there. But again, I would suggest if the life of Jesus is not impressive...

There's nothing impressive about his death either. See, the life of Jesus is impressive because he lived life like one of us, without sin, but at the same time with the same access to the resources that you and I have. He limited himself. And so where did Jesus get these words? How did Jesus have these words? Well, here in verse 4, he explains how he had these words.

Again, verse 4 says, the Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned. Jesus says, I didn't come up with these words. The Father gave me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. And then notice, he awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear. Jesus here explains, look, it's the Father who is giving me the words that I'm speaking. The reason why my words are impressive is

in their grace and in their authority and in the things that I say. The reason why, it's because of the Father's influence in my life. Because he goes on to say, he awakens me morning by morning. Every day, Jesus says, I'm connecting with the Father and I'm hearing from him, I'm receiving from him.

We have an example of that in Mark chapter 1 verse 35. It says, And that's pretty impressive.

Because Jesus had long, full, and active days. I'm sure you know what it's like, right? With a long, full, and active day. And when a long, full, active day stacks upon another long, full, active day, and another, and another, and it's a long, full, active week, and then a long, full, active month, then you're looking for those opportunities to sleep in, to relax, to catch up, right? And that's appropriate. We are human, and we need to recharge.

But at the same time, here's Jesus in the morning, rising a long time before daylight. He makes sure he's diligent to go daily to spend time with the Father. How did Jesus get these impressive words? He got up early and he spent time with the Father. And he heard from him. And he received from the Father the words that he needed for that day. Impressed by the words of Jesus. He lived an impressive life.

He is God. And yet at the same time, we need to appreciate his humanity. He humbled himself and limited himself to the resources that you and I have to live the life as an example for us. To say gracious words that cause people to marvel and to speak with authority that cause people to be astonished. He didn't do it from his own resources. He received from the Father, awakened morning by morning to be given the tongue of the learned.

It really speaks of the discipline that Jesus exercised to spend time daily with the Father, to not slack off, to not have those times of barely connecting with God. But he was consistent and diligent to receive from the Father so that he could speak forth these words. Moving on to verses five and six, we get point number three, and that is impressed by the obedience of Jesus.

As we consider the different aspects of Jesus' life, he's hearing from the Father, he's receiving from the Father, and now he's being obedient to the Father. Verse 5 says, Here we consider the obedience of Jesus.

He begins by saying, the Lord God, again, the Father has opened my ear. Now, I think immediately in our minds, right, we connect the opening of the ear to what we've just been talking about, the hearing from the Lord. But that's not that kind of opening that he's talking about. He's actually talking about a practice that, well, had been established in the Old Testament in the book of Exodus chapter 21. God had given a solution for those conditions where someone was so far indebted that they could not pay it back.

Now in our society, we have the concept of bankruptcy. For the people of Israel, they had this idea of becoming a servant or a slave. And God set some boundaries and set some ideas in place so that if you were overwhelmed, you were, you know, beyond repair in your debt, you could become a servant and repay your debt in that way up to the limit of seven years.

And then you were to be set free and that debt was to be considered paid. So this was God's solution, you know, for that kind of situation. But at the end of your time of servitude, God also gave an option. Now you have the opportunity to go free, to go back to, you know, the life that you had before, the new life you want to live now. But you also have the opportunity to permanently become the servant of that master. It's described for us in Exodus chapter 21, verse

Here's what it says in verse 5. Here when the Lord says, the Father has opened my ear.

It's referring back to this process where the servant says, I love my master. Motivated by love, not as an obligation or something that's forced, but motivated by love, the servant says, you know what? I want to serve my master forever. Forever.

Similar to God prescribing in his word, you know, the marriage covenant till death do us part, that for the rest of my life, you know, this is the relationship that I will be committed to. In a similar way, God allowed for and set some parameters for this kind of relationship, where for the rest of my life, I want to be a servant to this master. Okay, here's the ceremony. Here's the process. And part of that was to pierce the ear with an awl or the opening of the ear.

And then that servant would serve that master for the rest of his life, forever. Jesus says, I became that servant. I submitted myself to the Father to that degree. And so he goes on to say in verse 5, I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away. I submitted myself as a servant to the Father forever.

And I was not rebellious. I didn't disobey in anything. I didn't turn away in any area. In John chapter six, Jesus says, I've come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. That's what I came to do, to be obedient to the father. And that's impressive in and of itself and on its own. But then Jesus kind of goes on to elaborate the extent of his obedience to the father in verse six.

He says, I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard. I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. That's one thing to be committed, to be obedient to the father. But what if in that obedience, well, there's going to be some severe pain, some great hurt and even death. What if obeying the father requires death? And Jesus says, that's okay. I'm committed to the end.

I'm going to be obedient to the Father. And so I gave my back to those who struck me. There before Jesus is crucified, they take him away to be scourged. And scourging was a horrendous, painful experience.

Some people, as they were scourged, they didn't even survive the scourging to make it to the crucifixion because it was severe. And I'm not going to get into all the details, but you're welcome to dive into that if you want to consider that aspect of what Jesus endured and the extent of his obedience. He gave his back.

He surrendered willingly. This wasn't forced upon him. It wasn't, you know, against his will. He could have. He is still God, right? He could have just thrown them all off and said, forget it. We give up on humanity. Like, let's just start from scratch. Wipe them all out. Let's, no, no. But Jesus submitted himself to the Father, which involved giving his back. I'm going to let you scourge me, Jesus says. I gave my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard.

Anybody want to volunteer for that one? Just come up here and we can just show how painful it is. Notice I'm not volunteering for you to come pull up, pluck out my beard, right? No, no, that's painful. I love you guys, but not that much. I mean, that's too much. Jesus was obedient. He gave himself to this pain, to this abuse, to this shameful treatment. He says, I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. Jesus went through many trials in the process of his crucifixion.

In the different trials, there was different occasions where he was being guarded by the guards and mocked, abused, treated shamefully. In one occasion, Mark chapter 15 records for us in verse 19 and 20, they struck him on the head with a reed and spat on him, bowing the knee and they worshiped him. And when they had mocked him, they took the purple off him and put his own clothes on him and they led him out to crucify him. With the crown of thorns, they struck him on the head. They spit in his face and

Jesus could have done something, right? Remember he told Peter just a few hours earlier in the garden, look, if I wanted to, I could call in a legion of angels to wipe out all these guys. At any moment, think about the focus and the discipline that it would take for the Lord to restrain himself, to not retaliate against these who were treating him so horribly. The shame, the pain. But Jesus is insistent. I will be obedient to the Father.

He committed himself to serve the Father, to be obedient. Paul tells us in Philippians 2, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. The death of the cross was a excruciating, painful, but also humiliating death. And Jesus humbled himself to become obedient to that point, to that degree, to

Yes, we should be impressed by the obedience of Jesus. It's not just that, well, it's easy for him because he was God. Actually, the fact that he was God made it more difficult because he could have just ended it all anytime. But instead, he said, no, I will be submitted to the Father. For the joy that's set before me, the love of these people, out of obedience to the Father, I will endure. I will obey.

Well, moving on to verses 7 through 9, we get point number 4 this morning. And here we learn to be impressed by Jesus' trust in the Father. This really explains why point number 3, we can be impressed at the obedience of Jesus. Because Jesus was obedient to the extent that he was obedient because of his faith, his trust, his confidence in the work and the plans of the Father. Verse 7 says this,

Jesus was able to obey to the extent that he obeyed because he trusted the Father. He says, I'm going to go through this. It's going to be painful. It's going to be difficult. It's going to be humiliating. But the Father will help me.

And here you see Jesus working through something we can relate to, that what I feel is different than what I'm actually experiencing or different than the reality of what is. Jesus, he could have easily felt abandoned, but he said, no, the Lord God will help me. I will not be disgraced. What's happening in my life externally, look, Jesus is being treated disgracefully, but I will not be disgraced.

Jesus is being treated shamefully. But he says, but I will not be ashamed. I know in the end, the father will not allow me to be ashamed. It might be appearing that it's going to end differently than the father says, but I'm trusting the Lord. I'm trusting the father. I'm trusting his plan. The end result will not be disgrace or shame. The end result will be victory. And so Jesus was able to be obedient to

to the extent that he was obedient because of his absolute trust in the Father and in his plan. And so Jesus is determined, I'm not going to be moved. And so he says, I've set my face like flint. I've set my face. I'm determined. I'm resolved. I'm not going to change and nothing is going to move me. Pastor David Guzik says, there are two kinds of courage. The courage of moment, which requires no previous thought.

Jesus had this kind of courage. He knew what was coming. But there in the scriptures we see that he set his face toward Jerusalem. He knew what was awaiting him there. He knew what it would entail. He knew. But he set his face. He said, no, I'm not going to deviate from the truth.

I'm not going to trust something else. I'm going to trust the Father. In verse 8 here, he says, Similar to what Paul said, remember, in Romans 8, verse 31? What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

That's what Jesus is saying. The Father is for me. He's going to contend for me. He's the one who justifies me. And he's with me. And so if I go through this difficulty, if I go through this shame, I know in the end I will not be ashamed because God's for me. Who can be my enemy? Now it's true for us. That's what Paul's saying in Romans chapter 31, right? It's true for us because it was first true for Jesus. Father's with him. He's one with the Father. And so he could trust Jesus.

to the point of great obedience. He says in verse 9, surely the Lord God will help me. Who is he who will condemn me? Indeed, they will all grow old like a garment. The moth will eat them up. All these who come against me, they're going to fade away. They're not going to last. But the Father, he lasts everlasting. He's going to be with me on into eternity. And so I can trust him. I can fully rest in his plans and his purposes.

we can be impressed by Jesus' trust in the Father. He didn't just do these things in His strength and the might of His own deity. He limited Himself to humanity and He trusted in the Father to set us an example. Are you impressed? Incredible what Christ has done for us. The life that He lived, the death that He died on our behalf. Although He is God, He became a man to walk this earth today.

In a life similar to ours, in a life so that he can relate to us, hearing from the Father and speaking on behalf of the Father, obedient to the Father to the point of the death upon the cross, but all the while trusting in his plan. And right before he went to that cross, he established what we refer to as communion. He gave us these elements as reminders to say, look, you need to be reminded of how impressive my life is for you.

You need to be mindful of and reminded of what I have done for you and the example that I've set for you. And so he gave us the bread. He said, look, this is my body, which is broken for you. Real life. I lived my body. It's really going to be broken for you on your behalf. And then he took the cup and he said, look, here's my blood, which is being shed. Again, he really became a man. He really experienced the things described there in the gospels. He lived a real life.

reaching out to difficult people, being in the midst of a people that rejected him, although he is their creator, hearing from the Father, being obedient to the Father at great personal expense, but trusting the Father, knowing that it was for you and me, for us, for our sake, that he was there to die upon the cross for us. And so he says, do this in remembrance. Remember me frequently. Remember me often.

And so we want to take some time and do that this morning. I have a couple more thoughts I'll finish up with in just a few moments, but the worship teams are going to come up and the ushers are going to pass out the bread and the cup. And let's just take this time to do what Jesus said and remember him. Let's take this time to be impressed by the life of Jesus and reflect upon what he endured, what he encountered, what he lived through for our sake.

As they lead us in this song and the ushers are going to pass out the bread and the cup, you're free to partake. Anytime you want to during the song, you're welcome to do that. But at the end, I'll also give you an opportunity to partake and then share some closing thoughts. But let's worship the Lord and take some time to reflect and be impressed by the life of Jesus. And I just want to share a brief thought as we leave to kind of walk away with as we consider the life of Jesus and are impressed with

by him and what he has done for us. I would encourage you to be impressed with Jesus and let that leave an impression. The idea of an impression, it's something that, you know, has been smashed in, right? And so you push down and it leaves an impression of, well, the object that impressed it. And as we look at Jesus and are impressed by him, we look at him as an example of

He is the model and let us then follow him in his example. Let's be impressed enough to follow Jesus, to follow the path that he was on and the pattern that he set. There's three things I want to kind of just encourage you to do. Following the example of Jesus that we saw here in Isaiah chapter 50. First, we saw that Jesus heard from the father.

He was able to speak what he spoke. He was able to do what he did and live the way he lived because he made time diligently, consistently to spend time with the father and hear from him. And then as he heard from the father, secondly, he obeyed the father. He put into practice and he did what it was that the father had called him to do, living out the will of the father. And that was not always easy, many times difficult, sometimes painful. And so he had to

The third thing, trust the Father. The Father knew what is best, that the Father was with him and he would work all things together for good. And in these three things, we can follow the example of Jesus, hear from the Father. And I would encourage you, make sure you have some time, diligently, consistently, morning by morning, or maybe what's better for you is evening by evening, whatever the Lord leads us appropriate, but daily, consistently, diligently, diligently,

Have some time with the Father to hear from Him and then obey Him. Even if it comes at great personal expense, even if it causes pain and requires some difficulty and suffering, obey the Lord, even if it costs greatly and trust the Father. You know, God doesn't use a lot of get rich quick schemes and He doesn't use a lot of get righteous quick schemes and He doesn't use a lot of other, any kind of quick scheme that you wanna think of.

Usually it's more like a farmer. God says invest time and energy long before you ever see the results. But trust me, you will get the results that I've promised. And so we can hear from the Father, obey the Father, and trust the Father. Yesterday Kim and I were talking as we were driving along the way and we were talking about the things that the Lord had on my heart for this morning. And

I was sharing with her about hearing from the Father and obeying the Father and trusting the Father. And Kim said, that's hot. What? No, no, hear from the Father, H. H.

obey the father oh trust the father that's hot i was like oh okay well maybe that'll help you remember it you know we're facing 90 degree 100 degree weather remember that's hot let that be a reminder to you hear from the father obey the father and trust him as well may the lord bless you have a great week be impressed by the life of jesus christ to the extent that it leaves an impression on you that you hear from him obey him and trust him god bless you have a great week

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